First the shootout to break ties is an abomination. It's like kicking field goals to decide the Super Bowl.

Second, Akron finished ranked #1, but was seeded 5th in the tournament. A top four seed gets you home games in rounds 2, 3, and 4 (the last two rounds are in a warm weather city close to a traditional soccer powerhouse that thus gets home field advantage). Akron would have had to go on the road in the 4th round. Not the first time we got screwed by the NCAA in the tournament, it's an annual thing.

motherscratcher wrote:What was their reasoning for giving Akron the #5 seed?

They never said. Just like the tournament game against Northwestern that was moved from Akron to Northwestern because of "weather".

Did Akron lose a game in a shootout? Are they out of it now?

Yep. Creighton was down a man after a red card, but that advantage was taken away in the shootout. Just one more reason to hate the shootout. That's like having a home run derby to decide a tied World Series game.